A Case For Lestrade
by lew daney
Summary: Having learnt a lot from Holmes, Lestrade solves a mystery on his own.
1. Chapter 1

**I**

Sally rushed into the dining room, her hair ready, her bag on her shoulder, and impatience in her voice.

"Where's Michael?" she asked.

Mary put the paper on the table and turned around.

"Asleep, I guess," she answered, "he came home really late last night. I wonder he has been drinking?"

"Oh, I hope not!" said Sally. "He has to come with us!"

The three friends were spending their holydays on a beautiful beach house which was for let for the whole summer. The place was peaceful, the neighbors quiet, the weather nice, and everything so damn perfect that year after year they returned to this wonderful beach. Now it was half past ten in the morning, and Michael's laziness was belating their plans of going to town to buy food for the forthcoming week.

Sally went up the stairs to the first floor; there was a balcony and a small corridor farther to the left. She knocked twice on the door at the end and – getting no reply – swung it open and stepped inside Michael's room. Mary dropped the paper at the sound of Sally's scream, and seconds later she joined her upstairs. Michael lay on the floor, in his pajamas, and apparently unconscious. They shook him and called him, but he just wouldn't wake up.

Mary went swiftly down to the kitchen and rang Doctor White, one of the neighbors in the only thoroughfare there was. He had been a friend of them for some time now and less than five minutes later he was knocking on the front door. However, things were rather cool now, as Michael had recovered and was lying in his bed.

"We're sorry we called you in vane, doctor," apologised Sally, "but he gave us a fright!"

"Never mind, dear" said White, "it's always better to make oneself sure; and he is not completely awake yet."

Michael then explained that he had intended to go to the bathroom and take a shower, but – having not fully recovered from the previous night's hangover – he had passed out.

"Ok, you needn't talk anymore son," said the genial doctor and then, addressing Sally, he added, "would you go get him a glass of water, please?"

Sally went down to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water, which she handed to the doctor. The doctor put it over the night table and decided that Michael should sit up before drinking. He demanded for a cushion but there was none in sight.

"There is one inside the wardrobe," explained Michael, half awake half asleep, "over the upper drawers."

Both of the girls tried in vain to reach the cushion, but it was a trifle too high for them. White was way taller than the girls and he went for it; and then – cushion in hand – he sat again by Michael's side.

"Come on, son. Sit up," he said but the boy remained in his position. Twice the doctor repeated his command but Michael didn't move nor did he open his eyes. Not even the loud screams of the girls woke him up, as he had been dead for the last ten seconds.


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

"It's not possible!!" complained White, "he was alive just moments ago!!"

Then he saw the half empty glass of water and understood. He went to the telephone, rang the local police and returned to the room which held the silence of death.

Shortly after, two constables arrived. White told them what had happened as they sat on a big and comfortable settee. Then he tried in vain to explain to them that the glass – originally full – was now half empty, but apparently their only duty there was to make sure no one left the house before the arrival of the people from Scotland Yard.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait too long, as Inspector Lestrade was wandering about that very beach at the time. Sally went down to open the door and led him to the room. Lestrade listened attentively to the story the doctor told him and was eager for further explanation."

"And you say the glass is half empty now?" he asked

"Yes," replied the doctor. "And the water must have been poisoned because he died after he drank a gulp of water."

Lestrade enquired who had had access to the glass. White explained that Sally had brought it from the kitchen and then he admitted having put it over the night table himself, within his reach the whole time. Finally, he was unsure whether Mary could have poured something in it while he was getting the cushion from the wardrobe; however, it was Sally who stated that as the doctor was at it, Mary had to pass in front of her – which didn't happen – in order to reach the glass, as she had been at the opposite side of the bed all the time.

Lestrade checked the bed; it was wide, and it was impossible for anyone to reach the night table from the opposite side.

"Let's take a look at the glass now," he said afterwards.

"Of course," said the doctor, approached the night table and uttered a significant exclamation.

"Why, it's empty!!" he yelled and went grave.

"Is it?" said Lestrade coolly.

"It was half full before you came here!"

The inspector knelt before Michael's bed and examined the carpet. It was wet, the water must have been spilt here; and Lestrade was satisfied there was no chance of extracting water samples from it.

Once again there was the question of who had had access to the glass, from the moment of Michael's death until Lestrade's arrival. Apparently, this time everyone had had chance to do it. Plus, no one had seen the water being spilt and that was the end of the question.

"These stupid constables are useless," complained White.

Lestrade looked at the night table, noticing the tablecloth was creased, and he had always been suspicious about creased clothes.

"Don't worry," he said, "I'll find a use for them."

He addressed the constables and spoke to them in a low voice, giving one of them a small object. After the conversation, they disappeared from the room and went downstairs. Once he heard the front door slam loudly, he beckoned Mary to his side and said to her:

"Look, I need your help; I cannot leave this room right now and I sent the constables to get fingerprints powder. I want you to go to the kitchen and bring me a little flask with a red lid, in which the doctor put the only sample of water left. You'll find it over the table."

She came back a minute later with the flask in her shaking hand.

"It was empty!" she yelled, "I found it in the trash can!"

Lestrade looked down the balcony to the ground floor, from where one of the constables was nodding at him. At the sight of this, Mary fainted. Sally became heavily worried about it, explaining that it was the second fainting of the day, the first one ending up in death. Concerned as well, the doctor took Mary to her own room, laying her on her bed.

"She will soon wake up," he said.

"Very well, doctor," said Lestrade, "just let me put the handcuffs first; once she wakes up, it won't be as easy."


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

The doctor invited Lestrade for lunch, and after they finished they shared a bottle of beer in his lovely terrace, some fifty yards from the sea. Conversation drifted through different subjects, but White was eager to hear the inspector's explanation of the murder case of that very morning.

"I don't get it," he said, "Mary was the only one beyond suspicion."

"Only as long as you though the poison was in the water," replied Lestrade. "That's why she had to spill it on the carpet: because it was innocuous, there was nothing but water in the glass. Once this proved, she would have become the only suspect, for she was the only one who had the chance to give a dazed Michael a pill or something unnoticed, while you were getting the cushion from the wardrobe. He drank a gulp of water, alright, but only to swallow something… a pill. Plus, had the poison been in the water, Michael wouldn't have had enough time to put the glass back on the table, for his death was that quick. On the contrary, the pill had to disintegrate itself first.

"Another clue; the tablecloth of the night table was creased, as it had apparently been used to avoid leaving fingerprints on the glass. But you and Sally had already handed the glass, so it was not necessary for any of you to proceed like that. On the other hand, Mary had not touched it yet, and so she had to take the precaution of grabbing it with the tablecloth.

"Finally, I ordered one of the constables to fill this little flask with water, place it over the table and hide himself somewhere with a view to the kitchen… and the flask, of course. Then I told the other constable to go out slamming the front door hardly. Then, at last, I asked Mary to fetch the flask, making her believe that you had saved a sample of the water from the glass in it, and that the constables were out. Fortunately, you had gone to the kitchen to call the police before the water was spilt and she didn't call my bluff. The hidden constable saw her spill the flask's contents in the sink; and since Sally had gone to open the door at the moment of my arrival, Mary though that everyone was to be suspected for this new complication."

"How simple!" said the doctor as he lit his pipe.

THE END


End file.
